Multi-purpose closure

ABSTRACT

A multi-purpose closure for attachment to the dispensing necks of closures, such as paste tubes and bottles, and which is provided with a manually actuated valve for opening or closing a bore of the closure which communicates with a bore of the dispensing neck, so that the closure need not be removed from the container neck until all of the contents of the container has been dispensed therefrom. A stop means formed in part by the valve body and in part by the closure body limits turning of the valve body through an arc of 90* between a completely closed and a completely open position. Cooperation between a bushing and a valve operating lever maintains the valve body correctly positioned in the closure body for complete registration of the valve body with the closure bore in the open position of the valve.

[ Dec. 11, 1973 MULTI-PURPOSE CLOSURE Daniel Kiddon, 6008 Sonoma Rd.,Bethesda, Md. 20034 Filed: Sept. 7, 1972 Appl. No.: 287,050

Inventor:

11.8. Cl. 222/554, 251/312 Int, Cl B67d 3/00 Field of Search 222/507,519, 520, 222/521, 531, 533, 536, 537, 544, 545, 547, 548, 554, 560,562, 563, 142.9, 144, 542; 251/287, 289, 310, 311,312,192, 313, 309

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 264,842 10/1913 Germany 251/287 642,495 7/1962 Italy..222/554 Primary Examiner-Robert B. Reeves Assistant Examiner-LarryMartin Att0rney.l0hn N. Randolph [57] ABSTRACT A multi-purpose closurefor attachment to the dispensing necks of closures, such as paste tubesand bottles, and which is provided with a manually actuated valve foropening or closing a bore of the closure which communicates with a boreof the dispensing neck, so that the closure need not be removed from thecontainer neck until all of the contents of the container has beendispensed therefrom. A stop means formed in part by the valve body andin part by the closure body limits turning of the valve body through anarc of 90 between a completely closed and a completely open position.Cooperation between a bushing and a valve operating lever maintains thevalve body correctly positioned in the closure body for completeregistration of the valve body with the closure bore in the openposition of the valve.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENIEU I 5 FIG. 6

FIG-4 FIG. 5

MULTI-PURPOSE CLOSURE SUMMARY It is a primary object of the presentinvention to provide a closure for paste tube containers and which isalso adapted for use on bottles and other containers for paste andliquids, which will remain in place until the contents of the containerhave been completely dispensed, and which may be readily opened orclosed by turning the valve through a part of a revolution.

Another objpct of the invention is to provide a closure whichwilleffectively close and seal a container to which it is applied andwhich does not have to be removedv from a container until all of thecontents thereof have been dispensed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a closure having a valvewhich is so constructed and arrangedithat it can be oscillatedrto adesired thickness of flow between afully open and a fully closedposition thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a closurewhichmay'bereadily maintained in a clean and sanitary condition, whichis adapted to 'be used over and over on any number of containers, andwherein the risk of loss is reduced to a minimum since the closure isnot removed from the container neck for dispensing I the containerscontents.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafterbecome more fully apparent from the following description of thedrawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, andwherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of theclosure showing it applied to a container neck;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the closure;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, taken substantially along a plane asindicated by the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the closure, looking from right toleft of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a similar view looking from left to right of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a similar view looking from right to left of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the valve body.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more specifically tothe drawing, the multipurpose closure in its entirety and comprising theinvention is designated generally 8 and includes a frustoconical closurebody 9, having an enlarged, substantially flat end 10 and a restricted,substantially flat end I], which ends are disposed substantiallyparallel to one another. The body 9 is provided with an internallythreaded socket 12 which opens outwardly of its end 10. A bore 13extends axially through the body 9 from the inner end of the socket 12through the restricted body end 11.

The body 9 has a transverse bore 14, of a larger diameter than the bore13 and which intersects the bore 13, near the body end 1 1. A portion ofthe periphery of the body 9 is provided with a recess 15 into whichone-half of one end of the bore 14 opens. The opposite end of the bore14 opens in a substantially annular recess 16 of the body 9.

A valve body or plug 17 is of a proper size and shape in cross sectionto fit rotatively in the bore 14. One end of the body 17' has a portionof its periphery enlarged to define a segment 18 which extends throughan arc of 90 and which defines a head of the body 17 which seats againstthe flat bottom 19 of the recess 15 to limit the extent that the body 17can be inserted from left to right through the bore 14. The body 17,near to but spaced from its opposite end, has a bore 20 extendingtransversely therethrough. A sleeve or bushing 21 is disposed on thebody 17 and has one end seating in the recess 16. A pin 22 is driventhrough the bore 20 and has a press fit engagement therein. One end ofthe pin terminates in close proximity to a portion ofthe periphery ofthe body 17, as seen inFIGS. 2 and 6, while the opposite end 23 of saidpin is disposed more remote from the valve body 17. As best seen in FIG.2, the bore 20 is disposed so that a portion of thepin 22 will abutagainst the outer end of the bushing 21 to hold the body 17 properlypositioned in the bore 14, with the head 18 seating against the surface19, and with a transverse bore 24 of the body 17 disposed in fullregistration with the bore 13, when the bore 20 and pin 22 are disposedcrosswise of the bore 13, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 6.

The valve 17 is illustrated in open position in FIGS. 1 to 6 with ashoulder 25, defining one end of the head 18, in abutting engagementwith the wall surface 26 of the recess 15, which is disposed between thebore 14 and the enlarged end 10 of the body 9. When the valve 17 ismoved to a closed position by being turned counterclockwise through anarc of 90 from the full line to the dotted line position of the pin 22,as seen in FIG. 6, the bore 24 will be disposed crosswise of the bore 13and completely out of registration therewith, so that no material canpass through said bore. When the valve is in its closed position, theother end surface or shoulder 27 of the head 18 will abut the wallsurface 28 of the recess 15 to prevent movement of the valve 17 beyondits fully closed position, in the same manner that the shoulder 25 byabutting the wall 26 prevents counterclockwise rotation of the valve 17beyond its fully opened position of FIG. 5. The wall portions 25 and 28are disposed in alignment with one another, and lengthwise of the body9, and are so located that continuations thereof would intersect theaxis of the valve 17.

The longer end of the pin 22, which terminates in the tapered point 23,provides a lever adapted to be manually engaged for turning the valvebetween its open and closed positions. The end 23 is tapered so as toclear the enlarged end of the body 9 when the valve 17 is in a closedposition, and the pin 22 is disposed lengthwise of the body 9, as seenin dotted lines in FIG. 6. Likewise, the ends of the body 17 areconvexly rounded, as seen at 29.

The closure 8 is illustrated in FIG. 1 with its socket 12 threadedlyengaging the externally threaded neck 30ofa conventional paste tube 31from which the conventional closure cap has been removed, so that whenthe lever or pin 22 is swung from its dotted line to its full lineposition of FIG 6, a part of the contents of the tube 31 can bedispensed from the neck 30 through the aligned bores 13 and 24, bysqueezing or rolling the end of the tube located remote from the neck30, in a conventional manner. It will be obvious that the socket 12 canbe made in various sizes to accommodate the dispensing necks ofdifferent sized tubes or other paste and liquid containers.

The parts 9 17, 21 and 22 are preferably formed of a plastic, such asnylon, or an equivalent thereof.

The closure 8 may obviously be made in various sizes and exterior shapesand various other modifications and changes are contemplated and may beresorted to, without departing from the function or scope of theinvention.

I claim:

1. A multi-purpose closure comprising an elongated closure body having adispensing neck receiving socket opening outwardly of one end thereofadapted to receive and be secured to the dispensing neck of a paste orliquid container, said body having a longitudinally disposed boreextending from an inner end of said socket through the other end of thebody, said body having a transverse bore disposed adjacent said lastmentioned body end of larger diameter than the longitudinal bore andwith which said longitudinal bore intersects, a valve body turnablyfitting said transverse bore and provided with a transverse boredisposed for movement into and out of registration with saidlongitudinal bore, stop means for limiting turning movement of the valvebody for moving the bore thereof between an open position in fullregistration with said longitudinal bore and a closed position crosswiseof the longitudinal bore, said stop means comprising a recess formed inand opening outwardly of a part of the closure body and having a flatinner surface, a head projecting from a part of the periphery of one endof the valve body and disposed for limited oscillating movement in saidrecess, said head abutting said flat inner surface of the recess tolimit movement of the valve body in one direction through the transversebore of the closure body. said valve body having a second transversebore near the end thereof disposed remote from said head, a pinextending through and secured in said last mentioned bore and having aportion forming a lever to facilitate manual oscillation of the valvebody, and a bushing having one end seating in a part of the closure bodyand an opposite end abutting against said pin for biasing said lastmentioned valve body end outwardly of the closure body for drawing saidhead into sealing engagement with said flat inner surface.

2. A closure as in claim 1, said closure body bore and said firstmentioned valve body bore being of the same cross-sectional size andshape.

3. A closure as in claim 1, said recess having aligned wall portionsdisposed longitudinally of the closure body, and said head having endportions defining shoulders one of which abuts one of said wall portionsin the fully open position of the valve and the other of which abuts theother wall portion in a fully closed position of the valve.

4. A closure as in claim 1, said closure body being of frusto-conicalshape, and said socket being internally threaded and opening outwardlyof the enlarged end thereof.

1. A multi-purpose closure comprising an elongated closure body having adispensing neck receiving socket opening outwardly of one end thereofadapted to receive and be secured to the dispensing neck of a paste orliquid container, said body having a longitudinally disposed boreextending from an inner end of said socket through the other end of thebody, said body having a transverse bore disposed adjacent said lastmentioned body end of larger diameter than the longitudinal bore andwith which said longitudinal bore intersects, a valve body turnablyfitting said transverse bore and provided with a transverse boredisposed for movement into and out of registration with saidlongitudinal bore, stop means for limiting turning movement of the valvebody for moving the bore thereof between an open position in fullregistration with said longitudinal bore and a closed position crosswiseof the longitudinal bore, said stop means comprising a recess formed inand opening outwardly of a part of the closure body and having a flatinner surface, a head projecting from a part of the periphery of one endof the valve body and disposed for limited oscillating movement in saidrecess, said head abutting said flat inner surface of the recess tolimit movement of the valve body in one direction through the transversebore of the closure body, said valve body having a second transversebore near the end thereof disposed remote from said head, a pinextending through and secured in said last mentioned bore and having aportion forming a lever to facilitate manual oscillation of the valvebody, and a bushing having one end seating in a part of the closure bodyand an opposite end abutting against said pin for biasing said lastmentioned valve body end outwardly of the closure body for drawing saidhead into sealing engagement with said flat inner surface.
 2. A closureas in claim 1, said closure body bore and said first mentioned valvebody bore being of the same cross-sectional size and shape.
 3. A closureas in claim 1, said recess having aligned wall portions disposedlongitudinally of the closure body, and said head having end portionsdefining shoulders one of which abuts one of said wall portions in thefully open position of the valve and the other of which abuts the otherwall portion in a fully closed position of the valve.
 4. A closure as inclaim 1, said closure body being of frusto-conical shape, and saidsocket being internally threaded and opening outwardly of the enlargedend thereof.